"It's so great you guys don't feel upset over what Cheerilee did. What she did was really thoughtless, inconsiderate, and awful. When she promised to protect the foals no matter what, I had no idea she'd try to hurt all of you!" Implored Princess Gaia in an apologetic tone.

The Alicorn was sitting at the same table she had sat around with her friends at her cottage time and again. Now it resided in her 'throne' room (if you called the giant pillow a throne). "She was to protect them from monsters I had no idea she'd try to do that to you!" She appealed submissively.

"I'm so happy to hear that!" Princess Gaia gave a relieved nod. "When AJ wouldn't go back to sleep like naughty a foal who had too much ice-cream-"

AJ blushed.

"-It helped me realize that I need to change what I was going to be doing if I want a happy world for everyone. My wish isn't powerful enough yet enough to sustain every pony's body as they enjoy their own paradise forever. And if AJ refused to go back to bed, there could be lots of ponies who could refuse to go back to bed, but aren't mothers either. But I still want everypony, everyone to be happy and to get along. Thanks guys, that really helped out!"

Gaia still hoped that with Lulu and Celly their combined power would be enough to cast a spell over all of Equestria so that, for example, a tree falling on an unsuspecting foal would only result in a poor dented tree and a perfectly fine foal.

Twilight nodded and smiled. "They're called the Elements of HARMONY for a reason - perhaps more than one reason. They need to BALANCE each other, they aren't meant to be used on their own. We're here to help you, Princess. You shouldn't have tried to do this all on your own."

Trixie happily nodded, remembering the speech Twilight had given her on the subject.

"I just wanted you guys to be happy. And weren't you guys all happy? AJ, well, she got to be with some family that she hadn't been able to be with before." Princess Gaia said respecting her friend's privacy and not giving details.

AJ just nodded silently.

"You all got happiness that you wouldn't have gotten otherwise. It was meant be a GIFT! It wasn't trying to make you prisoners or something. Rarity, you finally got to find your Prince Charming."

"OH?! OH NO NO NO! NOT AT ALL RARITY! But Blueblood was your first choice and it was so wrong he turned out to be such a spoiled meanie! I wanted you to experience how that night SHOULD HAVE gone."

" Well, I must say, your version was certainly an improvement over that uncultured brute I met at the Gala. He was just what I wanted."

"And Pinkie Pie, you got a place again where everyone else wanted to party too."

"YEAH! It was all in good fun." Pinkie exclaimed with an enthusiastic nod looking at her Princess' cheerfulness.

"And Twilight, You got not only to be with us and Spike forever, but Princess Celestia too."

"It never occurred to me how much I wanted to be with her as much as I do with you guys. I guess I wanted to eat the cake and have it too."

"And you Trixie, you got what you want more than anything: Twilight's life. Being a real hero opposed to one who has to lie to make herself seem heroic. You want to be the one Celestia chose to guide the rest of us to save the world. An only child who doesn't have to fight for attention. To believe in friendship as strongly as she does."

Twilight startled and looked at Trixie. "Trixie . . . you envy me?"

" . . . I didn't want to think so. But I was happy. No doubts. No fears. The courage that comes from Celestia herself putting her faith in you. Greatness that no one in a thousand years will be able to brush aside or denigrate."

"Trixie, I'm scared ALL THE TIME of disappointing Celestia. Yes, I'm proud to be her student, but I'm more proud of being a GOOD student for her. And I know you felt like you were drowning in siblings, but I always envied ponies who had family their own age they could turn to . . . I guess that means I envied you, and why you were my sister in my paradise."

Trixie looked at Twilight in shock. Normally she would just turned away, but in Princess Gaia's presence, she didn't feel ashamed and hugged Twilight.

Twilight startled for a second but hugged back realizing this was the first time Trixie had initiated any gesture of friendship on her own.

"That's so sweet." Pinkie Pie said, smiling jubilantly at the sight.

"And Rainbow, you not only got to be with Soarin', and join the Wonderbolts, but you and Scootaloo got to go to the Sisterhooves Social like she wanted to so badly."

Rainbow Dash just nodded. She knew Soarin' and Spitfire were a pair (all the magazines said so). And Dash hadn't wanted to risk people asking why Scootaloo's parents weren't there cheering her on by Dash participating with her.

And she had even set hoof in Cloudsdale (no one wanting to believe one of their local heroes had betrayed Equestria for them), hoping to find Scootaloo's parents for her. She hadn't given up quite yet.

"And more importantly Rainbow, didn't I give you what you wanted more than anything?"~~~Dashie heard the scream. Looking down, she- saw little 'Shy fall from the cloud, unable to spread her wings, too panicked to think.

Dashie didn't hesitate, she abandoned the race, she wouldn't reach her in time, she had to! She needed to go just a bit, faster! And she broke through the barrier, leaving a rainbow shockwave in her wake. She caught her! She saved her! She was a hero!

Fluttershy's cutie mark, three dove feathers, formed later as the near death experience taught her she needed to learn to properly fly, and became the most graceful flyer in Cloudsdale.

Dashie also earned her cutie mark: a rainbow lightning bolt across a shield, symbolizing a hero.~~~Rainbow Dash sighed, "Yeah, yeah you did."

Twilight sighed, "Fluttershy. No matter how you dress it up, a desire for blissful ignorance of reality is no less nihilistic than a desire for oblivion. That's not kindness, and that's not who you are in your heart."

"Oh I know now, and thank you! You really helped me with that!" Princess Gaia gave a cheerful nod. "Everyone I bring into my fog: I get to see their dreams and heart of hearts. I see what's troubling ponies and the critters. So I know what they've been through and what they need to succeed. My fantasies are supposed to be a gift , not a prison. Like I said: you guys really showed me I need to change my plans. Now I know what's best for everyone!

"Nearly everypony was happier when they were foals, and those who weren't really deserve to have that fixed up. I've been trying my best to help them, but I can see now I'm gonna need lots of help taking care of all of Equestria by myself. So I guess I won't really be taking care of Equestria by myself after all . . ." She then sighed sadly. "At least for now it seems . . . Twilight. How'd you like a kiss from me and become one of my Knights?"

"M-m-me?" Twilight blushed. "But if I was anyone's Knight, it would Princess Celestia's!"

"Oh. Okay. That's alright." Princess Gaia just nodded, accepting the answer. "Oh I've been going on and on about my ideas so much that I haven't even bothered to ask YOUR opinions! I'm so sorry! So what do you think of the Everfree Forest now? Tell me the truth, I really want to know what you think."

"I can't say it is NOT an improvement in any shape or form myself," Rarity said.

"Yes, but I didn't want to waste everyone's time putting pink bows on all the parasprites." Princess Gaia nodded. "But I could get somepony on it right away if it means that much to you!"

Rainbow Dash groaned, smacking a hoof to her forehead in frustration.

"I thought it wasn't all that bad. But couldn't you have invented a candy tree while you were at it?" Pinkie Pie asked. "I don't think that'll ruin everyone's farms like AJ said the chocolate rain would."

"I'll be sure to get right on that." Princess Gaia nodded calmly.

"It ain't THAT MUCH different from how the rest of Equestria is really. Except for a handful of details." Applejack said honestly.

Princess Gaia had asked for an honest answer. Twilight gave her an honest answer. "Fluttershy, you can't go completely changing an ecosystem like this so fast! Bugs and runtime errors always show up in untested systems!"

The golden yellow Alicorn's wings and ears wilted slightly. "But if I waited to do all that, then more animals would have died from eating each other."

"Fluttershy! Animals DEVELOPED intelligence from the arms race between predators and prey! That conflict is what gave birth to what would evolve into reason! Trees don't think because they've never evolved the need to!"

"Trees feel." The Alicorn offered to the unicorn meekly.

Twilight decided not to debate that point. "But they don't -think-! Fluttershy, animals' need to adapt, is what helps them improve themselves. You know animals better than anyone. How can you not know this?"

Princess Gaia remembered the cruel world she was shown.

"Because I'm stupid." The golden Alicorn's head lowered so much her horn tapped the top of the table.

Rarity slammed her hoof on the table making the tea-set rattle. "Fluttershy! You are NOT stupid! And I shall not tolerate you calling yourself that again!"

The golden Alicorn blushed and sweat-dropped and let out a small mousy embarrassed laugh. "Sorry, I guess I let the power go to my head."

+++

The Dance Club exploded in a massive display of fireworks, much to the cheer of the foals of the fog covered Ponyville.

The demolition foals had done a surprisingly fast and efficient job, finding equipment just their size, and all the foals felt it was a good idea to stand VERY FAR AWAY from the place filled with bad booze, bad pictures, and music that wasn't very respectful to mares.

Even the owners of the place cheered at its destruction and readily began talking about building a playground in its place. The local carpenter colts were already drawing up blue prints.

One colt was jumping with joy so much as he tripped and fell, badly skinning his knee. He began to cry. At once several of the foals around him began to comfort him. It didn't matter if they knew him personally or not, he was family to them.

The filly Little Redheart felt medical knowledge pour back into her brain in an instant as she got a band-aid and disinfectant and cleaned then dressed the small scrap. Then the knowledge, having served its purpose, submerged again leaving only a filly who could enjoy life without heavy burdens.

A little unicorn filly named Sparkler who had taken part in the Sisterhooves Social stood outside Ditzy Doo's house. Sparkler turned down offers to play with the others. And the pink and yellow birds and bunnies let Sparkler be after a few tries. "Please? Ditzy? Dinky? Won't you please come out? I don't care if it's to be our Knight, mama, or sister. Just please be with us?"

She felt that Dinky wanted to come out, but Ditzy wouldn't let her. She didn't feel upset with Ditzy over that, after all, mamas knew best.

She didn't cry, because she knew it would be mean to cry and make Ditzy feel guilty about staying inside.

Meanwhile, a black earth pony colt played ball with some pegasi and unicorns. He had a silver ring that might have meant to go around the neck but now was more like a hula-hoop. The ring had a black onyx.

The earth pony remembered his parents telling him that unicorns and pegasi were mean, but they didn't seem to be all that bad to him.

Normally Onyx Tiara would be scared his parents would be upset with him seeing him play with the 'feather dusters' and 'narwhals' but he didn't feel afraid anymore.

A small purple dragon with butterfly wings and armor acted as referee.

Spike was more than a little upset with the tease of his dream and Fluttershy had apologized for that. In exchange she had offered him a kiss and freakin' knighthood!

Spike absolutely hated the butterfly wings that came with the fancy platinum suit of armor; but he remembered how Rarity had loved her own gossamer wings and that ladies loved a guy in uniform. Rarity was sure to be impressed with SIR Spike of Princess Gaia!

He had to admit, he thought Princess Gaia's idea was creepy at first, but the brats weren't nearly as bad as he thought they'd be, and he'd take 'childhood that never ended' over 'night that never ended' any day, night, rotation of the planet. Princess Gaia had offered to make him a fully adult dragon, but he wanted to see if the armor and wings won over Rarity first.

And now all the ponies were looking up to him!

Of course the Number Two assistant had to get in on the act! Owlowiscious had given Fluttershy a much sterner talking to than Spike had, but had stopped when he saw how he was hurting the poor vision of the Alicorn.

Sir Owlowiscious insisted he simply wanted to be as effective for Twilight Sparkle as possible, not trying to one up Sir Spike. And he was sure his new improvements would aid Twilight greatly. Though the butterfly wings were going to take some getting used to.

He hoped it didn't cause conflict of interest, but Princess Gaia promised him that she would de-knight him if Twilight insisted that she couldn't have the knight of another goddess in her service.

"Fluttershy if you COMMAND someone to be happy or like you, then they aren't really happy or really liking you." Twilight said. "If you just reprogram them then you make them no better than dolls!"

"A white rose is still a white rose even if you paint it red," Pinkie Pie said simply.

Princess Gaia shook her head. "I didn't order anypony to love me. If they respond positively to me. That's because they respond positively to love.

"I haven't 'reprogrammed' anyone. If they love me, it's because they respond to the love I give them when we speak. Only a pony who doesn't -want- to be loved wouldn't respond. If they're happy, it's because they want to be.

"I don't -command- any of them to be happy. Even with my dreams, I only provide them with what they wish to be happy. I didn't -command- anypony to love me. I only show them I loved them. I didn't order anyone to do anything, I only asked.

"I'll admit the dreams were meant as a surprise gift. But I never forced anything. I only wanted the chance to offer. The only 'command' I ever gave was not to be -afraid-, to be happy."

'A pony who doesn't want to be loved.' AJ remembered Mitta.

+++

The foals that had been nearly the entire population of Ponyville marched with smiles on their faces, colored rings for eyes.

They were gonna be the first foals to tour the Everkind Forest and at the end get to play in Princess Gaia's private amusement park! Mama Princess Gaia said it was her way of saying 'thank you' for accepting her gifts.

Mary Mare led the march with Ravey next to her. With Little Mac and Apple Smith bringing up the rear.

The Knights and Sparkler stayed behind in case Pip and his family or Ditzy changed their minds and came out to play. But it was only a hop, skip, and a jump to the Everkind Forest, and they were in sight in case something went wrong in between the town and forest.

The foals slowed down to watch a flock of white and pink sunbirds fly overhead. They giggled at a white and blond sunbird that flew chaotically behind the rest like it was still learning how to fly.

They didn't watch the flock take roost on one of Ponyville's roofs behind them.

But they did hear a mare's singing. All the foal slowed to a stop. The song held a simplicity to it, no guile or real force behind it, it simply was.

The song vibrated with something in their very bones. They all listened. If daybreak could be listened to, they all agreed as only foals could that this is what it would sound like.

Reminding them of when they had met their best friend or when they had shared nuzzles with a sibling. It made Apple Smith think of the first time she danced.

Diamond Tiara turned her head, hearing a voice as warm as a summer breeze and as beautiful as a sunrise. It was so far away, but something inside her stirred.

It made her think of that trip she had taken with both her parents to Manehatten before things had gone bad for her family.

Something inside her she had never known was there mutely called back.

'IGNORE IT!' Boomed the voice so hard she fell off her hooves, her ears ringing drowning out the song of gentle but not smothering or restraining love. 'ONLY BAD LITTLE FILLIES WHO DON'T CARE THAT THEIR MOTHER STAYS SICK FOREVER LISTEN TO THAT SONG! IGNORE IT! YOU ARE NOT TO THINK ABOUT IT OR PAY ANY ATTENTION TO IT AT ALL!!!'

Shaking all over, Diamond Tiara obediently resumed her course.

~

Sunny and pleasantEveryday is a present

No sign of trouble in sightLittle Pony, My Little PonyMay all your days be brightMay all your days be bright . . .

The foals blinked and looked around, their eyes still big and innocent but no longer looking like colored rings.

"Hey everypony! What's that to your right-?!" All the foals looked that way. "I meant your other right!" Everypony looked the other way. "Oh silly me! It was nothing."

The foals all looked in front of them again. "Whao. You're pretty." Mary Mare said.

"Thank you." Said a white earth pony with a pink mane and blue eyes. Her cutie was three smiley face suns. She was older than any of them by only a few years, just enough to give her an air of guidance without the distance of adults. "Hello ponies! Do you wanna play with me?"

The foals looked at each other, wondering where this newcomer had come from. But she sure seemed friendly enough.

Mary Mare spoke for the group, kind of unsure. "Un, we'd love to, but mama Princess Gaia kinda promised us a field trip through Everkind Forest and we get to be first in line to her new fun park!"

A lot of foals cheered at that last one.

Sunny Day winked at Mary Mare. "Oh, I'm sure she won't mind if you take the time to make a couple new friends first. I'm Sunny Day! Nice to meet all of you! Can you please all tell me your names?"

"Well, I'm Mary Mare, this is my best friend Ravvey, and this-"

"Have everyone introduce themselves please." Sunny Day interrupted still smiling. A playful gleam in her eyes. "It's so much fun to introduce yourself instead of having someone else do it."

Mary Mare looked at the herd behind her, but foals were nothing if not undaunted. "Okay."

Well over an hour later (maybe more so!) the herd of foals had all introduced themselves all personally to the marginally older filly. Finally, Apple Smith and her shared a nuzzle (Sunny Day didn't mind shaking hooves but she said she had seen too many stuffy adults do it). And that was the last of the herd.

"And it's wonderful to personally meet each and every one of you!" Sunny Day declared sounding more delighted than any pony had a right to be. "AND! There's somepony I want you all to meet too! He's a member of my family and I love him very much, but he has trouble around other ponies. . . . Come out now dear."

Like a male version of Fluttershy, a timid white unicorn with a blond mane came out of his hiding place behind Sunny Day, had he been there this whole time? He must have been really good at other ponies not noticing him. His cutie mark was a crayon drawing of a compass rose.

Looking scared stiff by all the ponies looking at him, "H-hi, I'm Blueblood, PRINCE-PRINCE Blueblood!" The colt said quickly looking like leaving out his title would earn him a ruler to his flanks.

"I've never heard of a Prince-Prince Blueblood! Nice to meet you!" Said Apple Smith looking at the small foal who looked outright terrified of her. "Wanna play?"

"What? No I can't!-I mean," The white unicorn colt stammered.

Sunny Day leaned down next to her relative and whispered, "It's okay, you can play with them."

Blueblood looked at Sunny Day distraught, a look of longing and fear in his eyes. "But my instructors say I'm not allowed to play with other ponies." The white unicorn said sadly.

"Well today's an exception!" Sunny Day revealed to him.

The white colt looked shocked, then jumped for joy clapping his four hooves together at the same time going "WHOOPEE!"

Before he could land Apple Smith tackled him to the ground. Sunny Day produced some balls of various sizes and colors and patterns from somewhere. "CATCH THEM IF YOU CAN!" She tossed them, the Pegasi tried to catch them all at once, but the balls moved with a life of their own to prevent such an easy win!

The foggy yet sunny field outside of Ponyville was soon filled with the laughter of foals, and Sunny Day's as well.

'I told him today, he just needed to lead a charge into today's problems to earn people's love and admiration. And bringing along the guards who he had refused to give vacation time to to make sure he didn't get hurt along the way, of course.'

++++

"Gotcha!" "No I gotcha!" "I gotcha both!" "Mercy! I surrender!"

Four white pegasus ponies with crayon drawn cutie marks jumped on Celestia's personal royal bed having a pillow fight. Four suits of golden armor clearly too big for them lay laid neatly in a corner.

Making sure they didn't break anything too expensive was a lesser aspect of the princess of the night herself, mostly resembling herself when she had been first cured of her insanity, the rest of her power was busy elsewhere.

Luna took a sip of coffee, the time being very early 'morning' to her. The noise of the four wild foals gave her a headache. Luna grumbled, "Celly, you die for this."

+++

"But Fluttershy, you haven't answered the most important questions." Twilight asked.

"Yeah! Can I have Cloudsdale renamed in my honor?"

"That wasn't the question, Rainbow."

"Oh."

"Fluttershy, what HAPPENED to you that could have caused, -this- to happen? Ponies don't just turn into Alicorn's! And -second-: Why? Why all of this? You've NEVER been this forceful before."

Princess Gaia blushed. "Uh, well, that is, you see . . . it was just, it was kinda -"

"Fluttershy, spit it out!" Rainbow Dash snapped.

"WhenIsawalltheanimalsin Everfreeeatingeachotherandtheirmommies IfeltreallyreallysadforthemandIwantedtomake everythingfairandsomethinghappenedandthenexthingIknewIcouldfixthings . . . and . . . " Princess Gaia crossed her forehooves daintily. "I was just being more assertive like you guys all said I should be."

Hooves clopped to forehead, four of them. Trixie was feeling her 'mare left out' status again.

"Fluttershy dear, you surely understand there's a difference between being assertive and being, er." Rarity struggled for a polite word. "Impulsive."

"You might want to turn things down a -little- bit. You really should send out the invitations and ask permission first before setting up a party in someone else's house."

"Fluttershy, I've gotta say this new you rocks, even if I think you've really overdone the girly stuff."

And Trixie was stuck realizing she was the seventh wheel again. She hadn't known Fluttershy besides the polite pony who had barely known her except through -bad- hearsay from her own friends and had offered her friendship anyway. She was like a Saint of the Age Before Discord in the flesh.

Twilight sighed. "Fluttershy, I can really tell you didn't mean any harm, and I don't think anyone is going to complain about Everfree not being dangerous anymore. But you likely worried a lot of parents with Cheerilee taking all the foals to the dream field. And I don't think the Princesses will really like you doing this kind of landscaping in their backyard without permission."

"That's why I need you Twilight! You know Princess Celestia better than anyone, and you're really the only pony who knows Princess Luna that I'm friends with! You're going to help me with what I'm going to say to Princess Luna and Princess Celestia! I know I'm gonna mess it up if I try to speak on my own, so I'm really going to need your help."

"And . . . what do you want to tell her?" The others leaned in, their curiosity stretched taunt.

"How I'm going to explain everything I've done for Equestria for her! Oh and Princess Luna too of course! I'm sure they'll love having another Alicorn to talk with! But I'm worried they'll think I'm trying to take Equestria away from them or something! I don't think they'll mind me looking after Everkind and the other wild places while they still rule over day and night. I know they'll love the gifts I've given all our little ponies. But I'm worried they'll think I'm trying to make myself the only Alicorn or something! And with all our magic I know we can really fix Equestria like they couldn't with two Alicorns."

"You . . . you want me to help you write your petition to joining the pantheon?!"

"I, er, um, that is . . . yes?"

Smiling wide, Twilight brought her hooves on the table, leaning in close to Princess Gaia, which made the golden alicorn inch away. "I'll get started right away, Princess Gaia! All we have to do is show Princess Celestia that you're still you, and everything will be fine!"

Pinkie Pie was happy Fluttershy was still her cute little self who'd blush at everything.

Rainbow Dash was happy Fluttershy apparently had something good happen to her rather than something bad because Dashie hadn't noticed something.

Rarity had to admit, Fluttershy was more beautiful than ever now, Rarity just hoped she was up to her ultimate self-challenge of designing a dress for a meeting of the gods.

Twilight was happy to put her talents to use for one of her friends and go all out.

Trixie wondered if Fluttershy could get her a command performance with one of the Royal Pony Sisters. Hey! She was a showpony after all and had to pay her grocery bills!

AJ sighed contently. There was no deceit in Fluttershy's eyes, no deception in her body language, no duplicity in her words. She was simply Fluttershy, Princess Gaia; honest, straight foreword, kind, and open to everyone. The girl had clearly, like she said, just let the power to go to her head a little bit, thankfully they were all here to set her straight and now everything was going to work out perfectly with their new Princess Gaia on the block.

Everything seems fine, doesn't it?After all, you can see through liesThe path before you seems well litThere seems to be no falsehood in her eyesHer face seems so very brightIf she's happy, let her be free of woeEverything just seems so rightBut do you really think that's so?

AJ looked around trying to figure out the source of the singing, the voice was familiar, vaguely, but she couldn't pin it down.

"Er, never mind." AJ said. Must have been her imagination. If Pinkie Pie of all ponies hadn't heard it, that's all it must be.

If you think everything's fine, what is there to do?After all, you can't be deceivedIf anyone can see a lie being told, it's you.And why shouldn't she be believed?Has she ever lied that you can tell?Fluttershy lie? She's not up to the task!You should know, you know her so wellBut what if she's hiding under a mask?

AJ startled, she KNEW she had heard that this time! But the others continued to chat with Princess Gaia like they had heard nothing.

If all is as it seems to beThen why not see it is so?Just take a look and see.Isn't it best to know?You have nothing to lose from being sureBut if you don't look, a price she may pay.Is that something you'd be able to endure?Don't you owe it to her to make sure she's okay?

Huh? How'd that make sense? AJ had been looking at her this entire time! She had looked her in the eyes several times already. Those pretty, beautiful, honest, pure eyes.

You can see through lies with a lookBut while appearances may seem so right For a fool you can still be tookConcentrate now with all your mightLook closer and you just might seeShe is just wearing a happy maskWhen things aren't what they appear to beFinding the truth can be a difficult task

Look closer? What was there to see closer? And AJ didn't know about trusting voices only she could hear and could just be herself going crazy.

Look closer and you can tellThat perhaps something is wrong you can't seePerhaps your friend isn't so well.But you're looking only at what appears to beLook now beneath how things appear!See the mask that is blocking your way!Or risk losing ones you hold so dear!Is that a price you want to pay?!

What detail was she overlooking? If it was so important, why was the voice trying to make her figure it out for herself singing?! What tiny detail was she missing? What one detail was she ignoring?

Or maybe, she was thinking too much like Rarity.

Maybe the draconequus wasn't in the details, but in plain sight?

Or maybe . . . it wasn't what she couldn't see . . . maybe it was what she was assuming was there because she couldn't see it.

You whose eyes can burn through lies don't waste this chanceNow let your eyes become the lance that'll pierce this mask!

Realization hit Applejack like a ton of bricks. There wasn't just no fog of confusion or deceit in Princess Gaia's eyes. There wasn't any truth either behind the non-existent fog either.

'I'm as dumb as mud. I couldn't see the orchard through the apple trees!'

"Fluttershy, stop this here right now!" AJ slammed a hoof down.

Everypony looked at her.

"Stop what Applejack?" Princess Gaia asked in a beautiful, but worried voice. Her friends as one looked worried for her too.

"Stop this dang show and show us! If you're really Fluttershy!"

"It is me Applejack, I swear! I know we've never been that close but-"

"How can we be sure yer tellin' the truth if yer not even being really honest with us?!"

Pinkie Pie looked at her two confusion in dismay and pain, having flashbacks. Something about this seemed so familiar.

"AJ STOP! You're hurting her!" RD Snarled protectively.

Rarity spoke up. "APPLEJACK! I've had just about enough of this-"

"SHOW US THE TRUTH 'PRINCESS!'"

She whispered sadly. "Sometimes a lie is easier to take. You don't want to see the truth."

When all the truth does is make your heart ache, sometimes a lie is easier to take.

"NO! Yer dang right it's easier! But-Ah ain't gonna be frickin' coward-like and hide from the truth! NEVER AGAIN!"

"I'm . . . I'm not lying . . ." A fearful and scared Pegasus wrapped up in an Alicorn blanket squeaked out. A soft sound like cracks spreading through glass began to resonate through the room, causing everypony to look around in confusion, except for Applejack, who continued staring right at Princess Gaia.

"AH AIN'T SAY YA LYIN'! YA ARE A LIE!"

Horror, shock, and despair flashed on the face of the scared and hurt foal in the trappings of a goddess.

Cracks began spreading through the image before them, like a painting on glass. A tear slid down Princess Gaia's face before the image completely shattered. The tear hit the floor, being the only part of the image that wasn't an illusion.

It was like waking up to a nightmare.

Nothing about the castle changed in the least, except perhaps for some dried and fresh blood stains on the castle stones.

And outside Angel felt the overwhelming urge to make sure none of the servants entered the royal chambers no matter what.

It was the size of an Ursa Minor. The entire chamber trembled as it moved.

Stained dragon claws dragged along the floor, the noise like fingernails on a chalkboard.

It had a faded and dirty yellow natural coat, on it's flanks was a cutie mark of three blue winged Butterflies with pink bodies.

A long pink tail moved behind it, roped together in thick cords that twitched more like muscle than tail hair, small lilies dotted along it.

Lean but dense muscle covered it's legs and neck.

It's mane was corded and dotted with flowers like it's tail, covering one eye.

It's torso was still that of a pony, the neck was a fraction longer. Permanent tear stains marked it's face. A glowing blue eye looked out from an almost skeletal face. An impressive spiral unicorn horn stuck out from a bleeding wound in it's forehead.

Heavy shackles were sealed around her ankles, with spikes pointed inward into her bleeding flesh. Another inverted spiked shackle was around her neck. Each shackle joined to a long chain that connected to the center of it's chest.

Her chest was a blackened, burned mess, leaving only an open rib cage, with a red orb at the center with something inside they couldn't make out. It looked like the edges of the blackness were constantly being remade and destroyed, neither gaining or losing ground, only trapped in an endless cycle of living and dying.

She moved like every breath, every motion was pain. Her body was covered in sweat. Every breath was knives into her, every heartbeat fire through her veins.

Optional-Canon Side stories:Pinkie Pie Watches the Sun Set!: [link]Fun and Games With My Friends!: [link]Luna's Big and heroic Day! alexwarlorn.deviantart.com/.../POV-Side-Story-Canterlot-Chaos-263491569

Hello everyone! This is part one of three of the final parts of my Princess Gaia Arch as I bring about a whole new world for Ponies Everywhere! Here I get down with my friends and we peacefully and rationally work out some of the bugs out of my new world and prepare to present it to Princess Celestia (oh and Princess Luna too) for her approval! It's going to be so much fun!

Here's a dramatic reading on youtube of all things whatever that is of Applejack's poor time when that big dumb meanie hurt her so badly! Please read it! The ponies who worked on it are all very good! And more I'm told is to come! [link]

And here's art of when a unicorn from the G1 Age of Ponies of Dream Valley managed to knock a tooth out from that big dumb meanie! By my royal and official artist FireDrake! Tickle tickle my little foal! Yes mommy likes hearing you laugh. [link]

YET ANOTHER tribute fanfiction has been written! CHECK IT OUT! This one takes a rather unique POV on the subject of Discording. [link]

Oh sorry sorry! It's just so exciting to know so many people care about me, er, this series!

Music For this Chapter: Suggestion song by Senthai for my dream land. [link] Antihoney - Dove[link]

Kendell2's Truth song, which is totally his own invention actually and written IN PARTICULAR for the Pony POV Series (so go to his web page and tell him thanks wil you please?). What a clever little foal I have. [link]

But he told me he listened to this song while composing it. (Balto wolf quest "Who you really are")[link]

Of course! This theme is much more powerful (and tragic!!!), I really don't know why I'm suggesting it though . . . what's tragic about any of this? [link] "KOKIA - Daiji na Mono wa Mabuta no Ura "

Hmmmm? What's this? Apparently this song is for the ending of this chapter or at least it's big reveal, I wonder why. Madoka Magica - "Magia" [link]

This part was edited like crazy by my little foal Kendell2 [link] That's him in the corner playing patty cake with my little foal Alex Warlorn! He's also the clever foal who chose where to break this chapter since it's gotten so long!

G1 MLP Theme copyright hasbro

MLP FiM is copyrighted by Hasbro, be sure to buy our toys so the show doesn't get canceled please!

That's right, play with your toys, you're all mama's foals now . .

Edits! And now my little foal Santafer did some edits for mommy, isn't he a clever little foal? [link].

In the Fluttershy squee voice: "A twist ending! They did it! They did it! The story did a legitimate twist ending I didn't see before! WOOOOOOO! YEAH!" (I regain composure)

Anyways, I was just wondering if at the beginning whether Hero Squad Alpha was brainwashed or not. Some ways I can tell that they are, in pushing to be in harmony with Gaia "We're meant to help you" and some ways it almost seems as if they're breaking through the problem. Hard to tell, but oh well.

Oddly enough, the one thing I always wondered was whether AJ really did consider the Manehatten future her deepest desire. I know that she felt the love a mother had for their foals, but does that make it a great regret that would become her paradise? I'd think that the Truth Recognition was strong enough that she would know that the dream of family isn't totally what she wants or who she is.

That moment between Trixie and Twilight was actually pretty sweet, regarding both their desires to both be special and normal.

Oddly enough, perhaps the clearest indication of their not being “totally” brainwashed was how despite their fawning over Gaia, they still were able to ask questions. Indeed, it seems as if instead of instant unquestioned loyalty they still had some of the obvious quirks of being friends. Perhaps this is the core fluttershy pushing through (you know, the meek and mild one who loves the friends who actually chose to push for her to interact rather than just moving past her) instead of the all controlling “gaia” who wanted to treat everyone as children (of a super young variety rather than the responsible dialog one).

You know, before I read this chapter, I actually must admit I was a bit spooked by the idea of being utterly taken in to see only what you wanted and enjoying it. I suppose It’s concerning because such events would be quite pleasurable, they wouldn’t be totally real, and thus overall useless in a global context. However, the way you have Gaia work around the problem of medical care was pretty neat, but again, it begs the question of whether their past knowledge will be any good if the world is fairly stagnant in its being.

The note with spike was pretty funny, with the little dragon finally able to fly, but instead of getting a bat variety, he ends up with butterfly wings (though all the more to impress rarity).

I also see that we're also given the "proper" semantics of how Gaia's power works. I admit that it's a little confusing in some ways, and perhaps that comes off the fact that her fog rolled forward, and brought up birds right away. I don't know if it's just me, or if I'm just confused. Is this mimicking Celestia?

The disguise of “Sunny Day” actually was pretty neat, particularly in that I couldn’t tell whether Celestia had been “Want it, need it-ed” or if it was just a disguise.

The funniest parts of the story was probably in how Luna was forced to stay up late in order to watch the canterlot guards( Celly, you die for this), and how Dash missed the point (can I have cloudssdale renamed in my honor? That wasn’t the question rainbow. "oh.")

And then came the big turnaround, and perhaps one of the bigger WHAM moments of the series: AppleJack and something that changed her mind. The speaking in verse made me wonder if maybe it’s zecora, but on the other hand, she’s still geassed. Perhaps I’ll leave that quiet due to slight spoilers.

Yet perhaps what I consider most interesting is another reevaluation of how the elements interact with each other. I might consider pinkie pie the happy heart or twilight the glue that holds them together, but this last moment with AJ made me realize that Applejack is the honest fact-checker now, thanks to her truth vision (I suppose the technical term is truth recognizer, but that doesn’t sound as good) She’s the one who can give them all a reality check, and demand a more real and honest answer from the others. She pushes them to be more forthright with each other and themselves, and from this, she made one magnificent demand of Gaia.

“Show us the truth, Princess!”

And so the true Nightmare Shy arose, and suddenly the whole room changed, the spell was weakened, and the true cost of Fluttershy’s actions were found. As well as reminding us that nightmares aren't exactly the most pleasant things to look at. Even the regal Nightmare Moon still had a very harsh aesthetic about her design. I suppose those Butterfly wings in Shy's nightmaring sequence back a way were significant after all. Also, Dragon claws? Unicorn Horns? A blackened chest with a red orb and an endless cycle of life and death? There's definitely some explaining that will be needed after this.

We start our story with a lie from Princess Gaia. She claims that she had no idea that Cheerilee would hurt her friends and was only supposed to protect her foals. We did see at the beginning of the “Teacher Teacher” chapter that Fluttershy watched the entire battle and knew exactly what her knight was about to do. The only time she got angry was when her knight was cured. The others don’t even mind anymore that Cheerilee tried multiple times to murder Rarity. Then Princess Gaia talks about how Applejack’s resistance taught her a valuable lesson. And like she says others might resist “going back to bed” as well, like Trixie and Pinkie Pie did. But she didn’t reconsider her goals, merely her methods. She still wants to create her utopia where everyone is happy. And she is already thinking ahead about what she could do afterwards. Fluttershy considers combining her power with Celestia and Luna to cast a spell over the world that will protect all her foals from any possible harm, even accidents. And while the others are all under her spell and seem to have forgotten why they came here, they care enough for Fluttershy to criticize her for her own good. Their friendship is stronger than this mind control. Twilight tells Princess Gaia, that she shouldn’t have tried to do this all on her own. Then Fluttershy talks about the dreams and the happiness her friends had in her fog, while still trying to respect their privacy in some way. She obviously didn’t respect it when she gained this knowledge and used it to trap them in their dreams. Now she describes the illusions like presents: Applejack’s one chance to hold the family she couldn’t have in her hoofs, Rarity able to experience the Grand Galloping Gala like she imagined it to be, Pinkie Pie living in a world where everyone enjoys her parties, Twilight to be together with her friends, Spike and Princess Celestia for all eternity, Trixie to have Twilight’s life as the leader of the Elements and the prized student of Celestia. Again her friends don’t agree with everything. Rarity seems somewhat insulted that Fluttershy might think that she could only find the stallion of her dreams in an illusion. And Twilight and Trixie immediately begin to talk about how the purple unicorn’s life really is and how many downsides it has. Under Princess Gaia’s influence Twilight is freely able to admit that she did also envy Trixie for her extended caring family and that this was the reason that the showpony was her sister in her dream. Also thanks to Fluttershy Trixie hugs her when she hears this and the purple unicorn is moved that Trixie managed to innate her first gesture of friendship by herself. But we also learn a lot about the dream she gave Rainbow Dash. Not only did she wish to be with Soarin' and become a Wonderbolt, she also wished to do the Sisterhooves Social together with Scootaloo. This shows again how much she cares about the little Pegasus at this point. The only reason she didn’t go there was that she was afraid that this might raise questions where her parents are. But she isn’t trying to keep Scootaloo for herself, for her Rainbow was brave enough to overcome her fears and to return to Cloudsdale and search for her parents. But even that wasn’t everything. Rainbow Dash also wished that she hadn’t abandoned Fluttershy at the race and instead did abandon the race for her friend and did a Sonic Rainboom to save her. In the end this earned both of them different Cutie Marks, Fluttershy became a better flyer and Rainbow was the hero she always wanted to be. Twilight is still able to point out that trapping them in their own fantasies is not kindness; it is like taking their life away. Fluttershy says that she can see deep into the souls of all beings in her fog and used this knowledge to create these dream worlds but now her friends did show her that she has to change her approach. She openly tells them her plan to turn almost everyone back into foals and to gain as many knights as possible. Princess Gaia even asks Twilight to become her knight but the purple unicorn rejects this idea because of her loyalty to Celestia. Fluttershy is able to accept this decision and changes topics to her changes of the Everfree Forest. Most of them tell her that it is an improvement over the monster-filled dark place it was before and many of them had unpleasant encounters there like the Cockatrice or the Poison Joke. And just like Fluttershy before Princess Gaia can be somewhat literal minded and seems to completely miss the irony in Rainbow Dash’s comment. And because she asked for their honest opinions, Twilight tells her very honestly that changing an ecosystem like that will lead to unforeseen consequences and that the conflict of evolution did lead to the development of life and reason. The purple unicorn wonders how the animal expert could forget this. Then Princesss Gaia makes a sudden turn and isn’t the perfect goddess anymore but admits that she was stupid. Her best friend Rarity immediately objects to that and Fluttershy quickly changes the topic again.

Meanwhile the foals in Ponyville destroy the dance club where this entire mess started. Everyone is happy, even the former owners. One foal accidently injures himself and Nurse Redheart regains her medical knowledge just long enough to help him before it leaves her again. They all live in blissful ignorance. The foal Sparkler also nicely shows how different Princess Gaia is from Discord. She tries to get Ditzy, who did resist the temptation, to come outside but she doesn’t seem to do that on Fluttershy’s orders but because she wants to spend some time with her family, no matter in which form. That she is able to accept Ditzy’s choice and holds her own tears back so that her mother won’t get sad, really shows how much she cares for her. In another heart-warming bit Onyx Tiara is able to play with pegasi and unicorns without any racism or fear what his parents would think of him. Everyone did awaken from their dreams including Spike and Owlowiscious. Both weren’t exactly happy but Princess Gaia did convince them to join her as knights. In both cases it seems that she uses their connection to others for that like Spike’s love for Rarity or Owlowiscious loyalty to Twilight. But Fluttershy doesn’t take their free will completely away. Spike was still able to reject the idea to become a full grown dragon and the owl was afraid that his owner might not want him anymore as the knight of a different goddess and Princess Gaia had to promise him to remove this power if that is the case. Back with Princess Gaia Twilight points out that the foals are not truly happy, if they are under mind control but Fluttershy claims that she does love all of them and only removed the memories they wanted to forget. This isn’t exactly true; Nurse Redheart surely didn’t want to forget all her hard earned medical knowledge. But like she said it only works if the being wants, at least subconsciously, this to happen. That was the reason that Mitta wasn’t happy, she didn’t feel that she deserved to be loved.

Now the foals of Ponyville start to go to the Everfree Forest and Princess Gaia’s castle. Only Pip, his family and Ditzy did resist the fog and stayed behind. But the knights are all there to watch over them and more birds arrive. Suddenly the travelling foals all hear a song that makes them all feel nostalgic, they remember their first happiness. It is the opening theme of the My little Pony special “Rescue At Midnight Castle”. That is something truly nostalgic. Even Diamond Tiara hears it and remembers when she was happy with her family but Discord screams over it and she continues her sinister errand. Almost like a memory spell the song breaks the control over the foals but they are still the innocent foals, Princess Gaia did turn them into. Then it is revealed that Princess Celestia did sing that song and is now standing before them in a younger Sunny Day disguise. They still want to see Princess Gaia’s paradise but Princess Celestia delays them with a prolonged introduction. She really enjoys spending some time with her subjects without being distanced by them by her own status as Princess and Goddess. Then out of nowhere comes Prince Blueblood and we can see that he was apparently once as incredible timid and shy foal. Maybe his distance to others did eventually turn him into the jerk he is in the present. But it is also really heart-warming how Celestia does introduce him as a member of her family, whom she loves very much and how delighted he is just to play with others. We also learn that Princess Celestia tricked him into doing this by telling him that he will earn people's love and admiration if he leads an attack against the fog. Surprisingly he was brave enough to do this and she didn’t even lie; now he really has love and admiration. Meanwhile a part of Luna is watching over his troops turned into foals. She isn’t very happy about this agreement to put it nicely.

Back with Princess Gaia Twilight wants her to stop changing topics and finally talk about the most important thing. Unsurprisingly it isn’t renaming Cloudsdale into Rainbowdale. The two most important questions are how Fluttershy became an Alicorn and why she is doing all of this. It is really nice to see that Twilight still has enough focus to see these problems. Fluttershy rushes through the answer: “When I saw all the animals in Everfree eating each other and their mommies, I felt really really sad for them and I wanted to make everything fair and something happened and the next thing I knew I could fix things.” That is actually the truth but still leaves out a lot of important events like Fluttercruel or what really happened to her. In reaction how much this answer is like Fluttershy they all clop their hoofs to their forehead. All except Trixie, who doesn’t know Fluttershy as good as the others. They tell her to be less forceful and ask for permission before twisting reality and mind controlling others. Especially Twilight tells her that the parents were worried about the absence of their children and that she took over an ancient royal castle without asking the owners. Now Princess Gaia wants Twilight to help her to present her idea to the two Alicorns. To talk about what the new Alicorn will control, what she did to the ponies and how they all could combine their efforts to turn Equestria into a paradise. Twilight realises that she is supposed to write a petition for Fluttershy to join the pantheon but is willing to do this as she is convinced that her friend is still herself. All are happy. Pinkie Pie is happy because Fluttershy is still blushing at everything, Rainbow Dash is happy that her overlooking what did happen didn’t cause anything bad to happen to her friend, Rarity is happy that Fluttershy became even more beautiful and thinks about designing a dress for her meeting with the gods, Twilight is happy about the challenge of writing the petition and Trixie is happy that she now has a friendly connection to a goddess. Only Applejack seems uncomfortable. There are no lies in Princess Gaia and everything did work out without a conflict. Princess Gaia is willing to listen to them and admit her earlier mistake. Then she hears a song. Nobody else hears it. It is about her doubt that something seems to be missing and that Fluttershy might not be as well as she appears. This song is likely sung by Ruby, the final character of Sunnytown, the foal sacrificed because she got her Cutie Mark and expert in finding things.

Suddenly Applejack realises what is missing: There is no truth in Princess Gaia. She is just as fake as the dreams they had earlier. She is just what they wanted to see: A flawless goddess willing to listen to her friends. She is just there to make them think that no conflict or confrontation is necessary. Under this guise she convinces several others to join her as her knights. The farmer confronts her immediately and all her friends seem clueless. Except Pinkie Pie they seem more interested in defending Fluttershy but AJ backs her into a corner. Then Princess Gaia tells her the same thing Discord did: “Sometimes a lie is easier to take.” There is no way out of this for Fluttershy and Applejack manages to shatter the illusion before them. The only real thing was the tear the being before them cries. Some dried and fresh blood stains appear on the floor and nobody of her servants is allowed to enter he room. The truth is revealed: Fluttershy didn’t become an Alicorn but a Nightmare. She is gigantic, has dragon claws, her huge gossamer wings show ponies in fetal positions, her colors are faded and dirty, her mane and tail are corded and dotted with flowers, she has permanent tear stains, a spiral unicorn horn was rammed in her forehead, heavy shackles with spikes pointed inward are around her ankles and neck and her rib cage is open, with a red orb at the center where her heart should be. Instead of the perfect goddess she is a being in endless pain. Her sense of self-worth is even lower than before and she seems to be ashamed of her real form. She is Nightmare Whisper, the kindest of lies.

Wow. This was certainly a complete shock. There were a lot of things strange about Princess Gaia like how her appearance did contradict her transformation at the end of the Black Pearls chapter or the constant use of lies and deception. But nobody would have guessed that she is the very concept of the lie that is told to help someone, to hide the harsh truths from others. She did hide her own suffering to make her paradise into reality. Applejack with her ability to see the truth was the only one able to destroy this illusion. Now that her deception is revealed the heroes can truly confront her.

Hehe, you're welcome! Sorry I don't comment on all of them; I tend to get redundant.

Hmm. Overall, I guess the errors are more grammatical, like a missed parenthesis and the like (sorry I can't tell you exactly where). Your biggest consistent weakness that I can see would be that your sentences tend to get jumpy. It can be a little jarring and disrupts the flow of the story. More varied sentence lengths at certain places might help with that. I'll try to catch grammatical mistakes while I'm readingand let you know, if you want.

The tear hit the floor, being the only part of the image that wasn't an illusion.[a href="[link]"]It was like waking up to a nightmare.[/a](first broken link) Her great head lowered if in shame.[a href="[link]"] "Nightmare Whisper - Kindest of Lies."[/a] (second broken link) Does that help?

"There wasn't just no fog of confusion or deceit in Princess Gaia's eyes. There wasn't any truth either behind the non-existent fog either." Can somebody tell me what is means in words that I can understand too?

NO YOU DIDN'T!!! If anything, you just confused me more. **sigh** I'm sorry for yelling at you. I've just gotten into this series and I can't be expected to instantly understand every bit of information that you throw my way. All I have to go on this fanfic is the the TVTropes page! If I may make a suggestion, next time answer the person as if they had just started out on this fanfic and whatever chapter the question was on was the very first chapter they ever read. Trust me, it'll make things much, much easier.

NO YOU DIDN'T!!! If anything, you just confused me more. **sigh** I'm sorry for yelling at you. I've just gotten into this series and I can't be expected to instantly understand every bit of information that you throw my way. All I have to go on this fanfic is the the TVTropes page! If I may make a suggestion, next time answer the person as if they had just started out on this fanfic and whatever chapter the question was on was the very first chapter they ever read. Trust me, it'll make things much, much easier.

AJ'S truth sense was being fooled because she was checking to see if the illusionary Princess Gaia was telling the truth or not, she wasn't check to see if Princess Gaia herself was a falsehood or not.

It should say on TV Tropes that this fic contains a rhetorical question blunder. [link] After Rainbow Dash asks how it could have possibly been any more girly, Gaia simply responds "I didn't have time to put pink bows on the parasprites".

I doubt she's seen it. But I imagine being the compassionate rather than the cruel sort, she'd insure her children would still be able to LOSE games they play with each other rather than having them all be ties.

Oh FLutter, you should know better than to LIE to the Element of Honesty.HOLY!!!CHRIST!!!Flutter.....what....what.....your....A Nightmare(Struck speechless for a minute, then shakes off)Don't worry, your friends will save you.Somehow....

The reason it's so divided is because everyone has their own interpretation of what words mean. For example, I see Whimper as trying to hide your pain, and not suceeding if someone is paying close attention. What Gaia was trying to do was remove everyone else's pain and take it all on her own, hiding it away. That was my interpretation, at least.

Probably won't be able to take the time to read more for the next two or three months, things have gotten a little hectic here and I'd prefer not to be pulled eight different ways by other obligations when reading a story of this caliber. Hell, barely have more than half an hour to myself these days..

Your "Madoka Magica" video is down.(You watch Puella Magi too?! No wonder I'm in love with you. XD)I'm assuming the song was Magia... Or maybe Connect. That remix with both songs in it?If I could draw, I would do this scene.... Maybe I can convince my ilustrator to do it for me.

Okay I had to admit when I was reading this, I ended up being fooled with the rest of the mane cast despite my resistance to her. It's only when I read it again and had some more thought to it, that I realized that she didn't let anyone go, just changed things around while she was still controlling others. Nothing she did was right she's still taking over the world and taking over ponies, animals, and other races free will. It was pretty good on how Applejack begins to figure out something very wrong, but what helped her out, was it another part of Applejack's will, Celestia, or something else entirely? Is that question even answered in the next two chapters?

Fluttershy's transformation into Nightmare Whisperer is obviously taken from Madoka, but after looking at your description of her again and again, I realized now that she IS TEDDIE, Shaodw Teddie, I might add. The dark blue eyes in an almost skeletal face while there's a huge hole to darkness around her body area. She's definitely like Teddie or any other Persona 4 boss, I finally see it now. Time to see Exactly HOW the heroes managed to save her.

"Okay I had to admit when I was reading this, I ended up being fooled with the rest of the mane cast despite my resistance to her. "

That was the idea.

"It was pretty good on how Applejack begins to figure out something very wrong, but what helped her out, was it another part of Applejack's will, Celestia, or something else entirely? Is that question even answered in the next two chapters?"

Ruby.

"Fluttershy's transformation into Nightmare Whisperer is obviously taken from Madoka, but after looking at your description of her again and again, I realized now that she IS TEDDIE, Shaodw Teddie, I might add. The dark blue eyes in an almost skeletal face while there's a huge hole to darkness around her body area. She's definitely like Teddie or any other Persona 4 boss, I finally see it now. Time to see Exactly HOW the heroes managed to save her."

I actually wasn't thinking of Shadow Teddy at the time. And IF the heroes can save her.